Daily Logs

Meltemi - 08.12.2011

Meltemi 08.12.2011, 00.30 UhrWir haben noch rund 57 nm vor uns. Der Kurs ist 252 COG und der SOG 7.5 kn. Wir laufen unter Maschine. Das Grossegel ist zur Stabilisierung im zweiten Reff. Der wahre Wind ist 2.3 kn schwach und drehend. Die Sicht betrgt keine 4 nm. Das sind nuechterne Daten. Auerhalb des Logbuches glaube ich feststellen zu duerfen, dass wir stolz sind, eine Leistung so abschliessen zu koennen. Es war fuer uns alle ein Abenteuer. Nicht nur die seglerische Herausforderung der Strecke ueber den Atlantik, sondern auch und besonders das Zusammenleben auf engstem Raum. Beides ist uns gelungen - nuechtern betrachtet. Weniger sachlich ausgedrueckt ist es ein wahres Wunder, dass wir uns nicht kaputt gelacht haben. Die Freude ueber unsere Ankunft ist deswegen auch von der Frage. read more...

Aniara II - Dec. 8

8 December 15.00 (local Aniara time) The majority onboard made the choice to turn on the Penta at 21.45 yesterday evening, after spending hours without any winds at all. We have now approx. 200 NM to the finishing line and diesel for about half that distance, so now we will have to use our cleverness on something else than just sailing. But we are still good friends onboard and enjoy better and better new baked bread and tasteful and innovative dinners.. read more...

Glass Slipper - 8 Dec 2011

Thursday, 8 Dec 2011Well last night was a bit difficult on board – the night before Bruce ran into a bit of trouble – we think it might have been brief high winds from perhaps a squall – well all of a sudden the wind jumps from about 12 knots to 45. Bruce briefly loses control and does two 360 degree turns. In a flash Tom, Ben and Guy are on deck to help. We quickly regain control, but this also allows for an opportunity to talk about emergency procedures. It’s pitch black – what if one of us had gone over the side – we all came up with our life vests and safety harnesses on – first and most important – “STOP the BOAT” – 2) push the man overboard alarm (this marks our exact  location with the GPS), 3)throw the safety. read more...

Great Escape of Southampton - Thursday, 8 December. The End

On the seven  day of Christmas my true love gave to me…Seven hangovers Six videos watched Five hundred miles (Proclaimers for Scottish Steve’s bnefit) Four bolts on the Generator, Three sails are flying, Two reefs in the main, And a suntan that will last until spring.   We crossed the finish line at 10:43 local. We entered the marina to great applause, like the departure, because Great Escape had 8 convicts in prison uniform.  A lovely high quality nylon that was not comfortable at all in this humid heat, but the reaction from the faster boats already here and the locals was great. A nice welcoming committee on the pontoon gave us cold beers and rum punch which lasted not very long at all.  A quick march into the nearest bar for refreshment, another. read more...

Zingara - 8/12/2011

Zingara auf Reisen.Guten morgen Deutschland!Querab barbados sind es nur noch 55nm bis zum ziel, 15 tage schoenstes segeln, die letzten 3 eine mischung aus motoren u segeln. Eine niederlage muessen wir eingestehen: wir haben keinen fisch an bord bringen koennen. Es ist 30 grd warm u bedeckt, sehr angenehm an bord. Um 16.30 ortszeit wollen wir die ziellinie ueberqueren u dann den empfang geniessen. Soviel fuer den moment, seid alle herzlich gegruesst, ernst, ruediger u felix. read more...

Lancelot - Day 18 - Character Building

Morning All So we are still floating around the Atlantic although we now have the pain of actually being able to see St Lucia but it would appear that someone somewhere doesn't want us to actually step foot on it, maybe they have heard about our drinking habits! It has been slow going again over the last 24 hours and we now find ourselves a mere 22 miles from St Lucia. To put that in perspective when we usually go out for a days racing in Cowes Week our course is usually in the vicinity of 25 miles and it is covered in around 4 hours and you can expect to be in the beer tent by late afternoon.  At our current speed and going on our latest weather forecast we can expect to be floating around looking at St Lucia for at least another 12 hours, which brings us to the title of today's. read more...

Felicity J - no bombing...

...no splashing, no running, no shouting and certainly no heavy petting.   Those are the rules at the swim club today!  As the day starts to heat up and we motor in a flat calm Atlantic Ocean the crew are getting twitchy for their second swim of the trip so far.  It seems a bit daunting to jump in when the deep end of the 'pool' drops off to around 5,285 metres and you can't help but somewhere at the back of your mind start to hum the jaws music - da de, da de, da de.... but it is well worth it to cool off.   . read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 18 - motoring

Yesterday went well - we flew the chute for most of the day until the wind came south and we switched to genoa. By around 1600 though the wind was falling away to nothing and we've motored overnight in glassy calm seas.  We've enough fuel to motor to St Lucia (315 miles to go!) but that would be a bit tedious so hopefully we'll get some more wind at some stage. We've got 0.6 kts of favourable current so have throttled right back to make sure we have the range; even so our speed over the ground is 6.4 kts which means we get to arrive in St Lucia on Saturday afternoon in time for the jazz night. Overnight was very pleasant - nearly a full moon and dolphins playing under the bow (well they did on my watch). Dawn was the most spectacular sunrise so far although I'm sure our camera did. read more...

Engelen - Dry Boat?

Are you on a dry boat? Well, in a sense, yes. Otherthan the occasional ritual or 'team-bonding' beer to go with a passage milestone, the consumption of alcoholic beverages, while not being ruled out completely, is regulated through subtle social pressures.Rumor has it that some boats of our competition saw themselves forced to decide between beer and whine when thinking about how the added weight would reflect on their race performance, but Engelen is different. Reminiscent ofthe House of a Thousand Beers in Berlin, golden delicatessen from all over the Mediterranean are hidden under most pillows, floorboards, inside cupboards and the fridge. Now, I don't know whether it is the eighteen days spent at sea, the running out of cold soft drinks about four days ago or my Bavarian roots,but a. read more...

Skyelark of London - Reply from Managaing Director World Cruising Club

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Dear Dan, and crew of Skylelark of London,   Thank you for the series of letters to me during your crossing of the North Atlantic from Gran Canaria to St Lucia, and your appreciation of the complexities involved in running the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. For World Cruising Club the organisation of the event is continual, with the entry list already well subscribed for 2012, before the current event is even over. Your understanding of what’s involved in organising the ARC is much appreciated.   It sounds as though you and your crew have had a good crossing this year, even if you did have to resort to motoring towards the end, which thankfully you declared. And it meant you arrived for the Welcome Party hosted by the St Lucia Tourist. read more...

Felicity J - a cement truck?

We are trying to work out how a cement truck can be in today's picture in the advent calender, I'm not sure it brings out any festive cheer or spirit.  We are quite pleased with the likes of a rocking horse, snowman and shooting star so far but a cement truck.  Actually, maybe in fact it is a grit lorry but even so.   After an evening of getting rained on (and grabbing the shampoo to have a squally shower) it is now super hot but we are sailing along nicely and the numbers on the clock are 465 miles to go.  The question is will we make it in time for the friday night 'jump up'.... read more...

Jacana of Ardmay - 7/12/11

Dear family and friends,   After all that rain we had the total contrast today in that it was so sunny and hot, hot, hot. we started the day off well with the foresail poled out and getting a steady 6 knots, by 10 o’clock the wind speed was dropping so the skipper decided to put up the cruising chute. With wind speeds of only 8 to 10 knots the chute was giving us a steady 6 to 7 knots. But alas by 4 o’clock the Atlantic became so very calm and such a contrast to what we have been experiencing with 4 meter swells. We spotted 4 whales today, not sure what type, but that has been our first sighting for a couple of weeks now since the dolphins. Fantastic dinner tonight prepared by chef Margaret and her son of smoke salmon fishcakes on a bed of thai spiced. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 18 - Wednesday 7/12/11 - Miscellany

Today was a bit of a curate’s egg, with some good bits and some less good. It is getting very hot, despite there being a fair bit of cloud around. The bimini is excellent, keeping most of the direct sunlight off the crew, and minimising the risk of scorching.  As the wind eased over the last 24 hours, its cooling effects also dissipated, and humidity has increased. It is quite uncomfortable. When we do sail changes on deck, we are more exposed to its impact and, everyone comes back dripping with sweat and has to down a litre of fluid on returning to the cockpit. The laundry bag is full again! On the other hand, the lighter airs mean that the seas have diminished and the boat’s motion improved. Better sleep is very welcome indeed, as we have a lot of catching up to. read more...

Emilija - 7th Dec

Would you believe it only 50 miles to go where we expect to arrive at about 1.00 am thurs morn By which time we will have gone from not a notion sailors to being ocean sailors. (Take note Aidan). When Brenda called her father (92) he asked would we be stopping off anywhere, another when told we were 2000 miles from Las Palmas and 1000 miles from St Lucia replied " a so you are out in the boat then". We decided to keep using the Swedish spinnaker(volvo) as the winds are too light although as we arrive in St Lucia they will pick up but it will only clear the bit of rain away. Mind you rain at 26 degrees is not bad.  The washing machine hasnt stopped all day in preperation for landing. The Emilija Tshirts ready to put on a good show even in the dark.  We will keep the log going. read more...

Ensemble - Day 18: 7 December 2011- Home stretch

Greetings from yacht Enesmble. It has been an interesting day - with a little something for everyone. The day started off with us being becalmed.The promised winds were supposed to start after midnight but didn't materialise.So at 10am we after 12 hours of no progress we decided to start the engines and motor a bit. Not before we all went for our Atlantic dip.The conversation started off with 'No way - it's too deep', and included a crew rendition of the Jaws music - but at the end of the day we thought that given we hadn't seen a decent size fish in days we were reasonably safe.The hot weather and warm water (29C and 21.2C respectively), mill pond surface of the ocean, all helped with the decision making process. Feeling refreshed we started the. read more...

Island Wanderer - Last night at sea. Day 17

Our last dawn at sea was spectacular, the best so far.    In the movies, we would then sail briskly towards our destination in thesteady trade winds, bathed in Caribbean sunlight, watching as the palm fringedbeaches beckoned and the sound of steel drums permeated the air.In reality we spent the entire day motoring through damp humid air, withthe sun  never managing to break through the dense cloud cover. Our arrivalwill be in the middle of the night, about 9 hours from now. We travel in companywith a small group of other boats that are all converging on Rodney Baytogether. Despite the weather, spirits are high as we eagerly anticipate our arrivaland we have spent the day readying the boat to spend at least part of a night ina marina. The highlight of the day was when Doug. read more...

Skiathos - daily log

Treue Leserschaft,   unser Transatlantikblog nähert sich dem Ende: wir sind gerade noch 195sm von Saint Lucia entfernt, landfall ist wohl Freitag früh - wir freuen uns schon auf den angekündigten Obstkorb und den Rumpunsch ;-) Es ist verteufelt und ich bin machtlos: irgendwie landen wir immer wieder bei kulinarischen Erlebnissen. Einfach unerklärlich...   Gestern haben wir das erste Mal das Schiff verlassen, heute früh gleich wieder. Der "große Weisse" und seine Kollegen haben nichts bemerkt, besser für uns. Dafür haben ein kingfish und ein uns unbekannter, karpfenähnlicher Kollege zumindest den mitgeschleppten Köder bemerkt und sind damit den üblichen Weg über das Filettierbrett in den Kühlschrank gewandert. Wir. read more...

Sookie - Day18 (Sixteen)

We have ducked down south today in an attempt to catch some homeward winds.  The boats we made ground on yesterday might det us back today as we are running into light winds.    We caught a Wahoo today (fish number three) on a homemade lure of old red spinney halyard and a piece of duck tape.  From Ocean to pan and table took about twenty minutes. Very tasty and meaty almost like chicken. We have not seen any boats today but as the winds were light we stopped off for an Atlantic swim.  We Have a few underwater pics.    The water was very warm and the most beautiful clear deep blue you could imagine.   At one time it looked like we might have made Friday night to St Lucia until the winds dropped so we are now hoping for Sat afternoon.. read more...

Raparee - days 17 & 18

Well folks, yesterday, Tuesday 17th, was a bit pooey to say the least. It rained, it poured, it blew, it stopped, we went backwards and sideways, but not forwards. Sails up and down again and clothes from foulies to shorts on and off again. Finally becalmed all evening, so after a few hours of angst (and we know what this skipper is like about angst)we sadly decided to bend on the iron topsail for a bit of chug-chugging. Megga penalty points at the end of course, but probably better than going backwards and meeting the back end of the fleet.  Anyways folks we put-putted for a few hours and stopped at ohcracksparrowfart this morning so we could drift a bit and ponder fings under Orions belt. Nothing in sight. No whales. No wind. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Other yachts have seen pirate. read more...

Adelante - Re: 2.Dezember 2011

Von Peter U. WyssAm 02.12.2011 um 18:08 schrieb Wyss Peter :> Liebe Freunde > ich melde mich wieder einmal von Bord der Adelante. In den letzten Tagen war das "Rocking and Rolling " einerseits zu heftig, um über längere Zeit eine Satellitenverbindung aufrecht zu erhalten, andererseits um auf dem i-Pad die richtigen Tasten zu treffen ! Auch diese Zeilen entstehen unter very challenging conditions, to say the least ! > Manche, die unser Fortkommen beobachten hatten festgestellt, dass wir im Feld nach hinten durchgereicht wurden. Die einfache Arntwort ist wie im Segeln üblich : Wir waren am falschen Ort und sind zu langsam gesegelt. Uns wurde von extern geraten eine nördliche Route zu wählen, um einem kräftigen Tief auszuweichen, das sich dann nie. read more...

Lone Star - 7 Dec - Final Log Enry

Sorry about the delay in providing a final log update on our Atlantic passage.Our passage time was 15 days, 18 hours, 42 minutes and 30 seconds.We had excellent weather for the crossing with most of the wind being of the traditional trade winds blowing from the east at speeds from 15 to 25 knots.When we encountered a squall the winds increased some, but the highest wind we encountered was only 35 knots.The double head sail system did an excellent job of spilling wind off the top during the gusts and all the crew except for one enjoyed the thrill of the higher winds and Lone Star surfing down the waves at speeds as high as 11.5 knots. The passage was not without incident.We encountered a number of issues with the boat, but were able to overcome each one.From what I have been able to pick. read more...

Cosmic Dancer V - Days 13-17 - Life without Harry

"Harry" has been missed more than we could ever have imagined - as the old saying goes - you don't realise how much you rely on something until you don't have it any more. It wasn't that we had used the autopilot that much in the first 1,000 miles of the trip - we had probably hand steered 950 of those miles anyway - but what we perhaps didn't fully appreciate at the time, was just how invaluable those short "autopilot assisted" breaks are when sailing 2 handed - the chance to pop below to make an occasionalcup of coffee, someone to steer whilst reefing or hoisting and lowering sails, or simply just a short 5 minute break from the relentless concentration needed when steering dead down wind in fresh winds and big seas for days on end. It would. read more...

Halcyon of Hebe - Finns and fins

Pos 14:40N 57:02W The wind may be frustrating, but it all happens out in the Atlantic. Last night, following the Finnish national anthem on the VHF, we arranged to meet the crew of Suzanne for a drink.We were both motoring on a converging course and a couple of hours later we were side by side.Slowing to 2 knots, we closed and let Alistair and Steve go aboard Suzanne, whilst we hosted Ulla and Peter.We had a great mid-Atlantic party - the Finns (actually 3 Finns and 1 very merry Swede) were extremely happy and hearty and great company.We had a lovely drink sailing together into the sunset. Throughout this trip, Sarah has been asserting to everybody within earshot that she's not married to any us, or James' mother.The Finns just smiled. read more...

Adelante - ARC Auf der Zielgeraden

Liebe Freunde Zum Zeitpunkt an dem ich diesen blog schreibe sind wir noch ca. 100 Meilen vom Ziel entfernt und fahren unter Motor, das Meer ist spiegelglatt, es ist tropisch warm und regnet gelegentlich. Wir werden am Ziel dann unsere Motorlaufzeit angeben, die wird dann für die Rangliste irgendwie verrechnet. Vor 24 Stunden geschah in aller Ruhe etwas Spektakuläres: Ziemlich plötzlich hatten wir den Wind direkt auf die Nase, direkt aus der Zielrichtung ! Stundenlang konnten wir bei leichtem Wind wunderbar bis weit in die Mondnacht aufkreuzen, ein wahres Herrensegeln ! Nachdem wir die ganzen 2300 Meilen zuvor ausser während ein paar Wirrungen und Irrungen ( thanks Oily, Du bist nicht der einzige der ??? hatte ) immer voll auf Tiefe gegeigt waren, dabei immer besser. read more...

Nyda - Day 17-18

Really very little to report over the last couple of days, nothing much has been going on! We had a good run yesterday of 163 miles, the night sail had been fun with some wave surfing to be had. It was definitely a lot more enjoyable than sitting in the rain of the previous night. Last night the good wind continued but it has slackened off again this afternoon. Dad and Graham are coming up with more and more ludicrous sail variation ideas to try and improve our speed. I suspect by the time we reach St. Lucia we will be flying every piece of cloth on board: coats, trousers and pants included!!! The rest of the fleet seem to be north of us but those in front have hit a hole: several boats were motoring when we spoke this morning. We are hoping for a true Cowes week style finish where we. read more...

Spindrift of Jersey - ARC Log - Day 18

We continued at 5 knots Tuesday afternoon and all night. By evening there was general cloud cover and the temperature had dropped a bit and there was  continuous rain - very like sailing in Britain except that the temperature is 25 degrees. This rain cleared overnight and eventually the moon broke through. It was then a very sedate sail at 5 -6 knots with the sea much calmer so everyone caught up on sleep - thankfully as several of us had had almost none the previous night. In the morning we raised the larger headsail and continued at about 6 knots - sometimes 7, sometimes 5 - on a very calm sea for the rest of the day. By the late afternoon the wind was starting to die off and we had heard on the radio that other boats that are 50-100 miles ahead of us were. read more...

Annie - Blog 18

It sure is humid in this boat, our own little steam room! My favourite thing to do now is to stand under the open saloon hatch and feel the cool air shower down on me. Lovely. More recently I have been longing to have a real shower, with fresh water and I sometimes have the mad desire to pump enough water from the tank and splash it all over me. Of course I don't. Baby wipes have to suffice for now but that salty stickiness remains. We now have less than 900 miles to run and it has become increasingly difficult not to start crossing the days off, like a prisoner waiting for release. However, I'm sure I'll miss those empty seas and beautiful skies when we do eventually make land. I'm determined that the boat be in a good state below when we do arrive in St LuciaNever one to enjoy. read more...

Annie - Log Day 17 by Peter

For the last four days we have enjoyed better wind strengths, mainly SE-E F5-6, occasionally 7 and we've been logging some good distances for our 36' long boat of getting on for around 120 miles per day. Our rig remains unaltered for the time being with hanked on staysail poled out to port and a partly furled Genoa poled out on the boom to starboard. The boat doesn't roll too much although I couldn't sleep last night as the seas got up after quite a blow and came round on the beam. We're still low in the water and we put this down to avoiding the tinned stores which fill up the forepeak lockers and under some ofthe saloon berths. Actually, so far we've eaten well with the fresh food only now just about exhausted. Life on board follows a pattern. read more...

Annie - Log Day 16 by Peter

To mark the crossing of our half way point on Friday night, our thoughtful skipper Graham provided a miniature of Cava and a bag of special ginger chocolates for each of us, which all we enjoyed with our supper last night and a jolly nice time was had by all. We've had a rather laid back day today, following our exertions of yesterday. We have arrested the northern tendency in our course and we are currently heading for Barbados, so maybe a further tweak will be required. The winds today have been light (around 15 knots) and the seas friendly. It's been just like cruising the Devon coast on a lovely summer's day, except of course there is no coast.  Highlights of the day so far include breaking out the massive melon provided for us by our. read more...

Aniara II - Dec. 07

7 December 15.00 (local Aniara time) Everyone’s moods onboard are focused on our speed, or rather loss of speed. 86 NM the last 24 hours, and sometimes completely wind still.  This is for sure a real group dynamic lesson which will test the mental and psychological strength on all of us. Right now the wind is back a little and we sail with 5 – 6 knots. 380 NM (equals 610 km) remains to St. Lucia, and if all weather Gods are with us, we will be there on Saturday.. read more...

Matilda - Round Round Right Round

Yesterday was definitely a game of two halfs. The morning saw us on a beautiful reach with bags of wind, then a front came through with heaps of rain and no wind at all - all a bit soggy and depressing. On my night watch we ended up doing several 360s that were honestly nothing to do with my helming whatever Jonathan may say, but lack of wind and steerage. At one point I put the autopilot on and it refused to steer a course - so much for labour saving technology. Bit of a funny incident in the afternoon, a cargo vessel appeared out of the mist and gloamin and when I looked at the AIS the only information it gave was that the vessel was not moving and not under command, which seemed a bit strange. We avoided it and it disappeared into the murk soon afterwards. I wish I had given them a. read more...

Grateful Red - day 17

winds to zero, we flaked the main, rolled the jib, had a couple cold beverages, took the night off and .... emailed land crew our GPS coordinates and requested that they beam us some wind.Worked! Today started as a light asymmetrical spin reach, evolved into a beat to st. lucia (yes scotty the new i Beam technology from Apple really works). Again cookin' at six plus knots on an ocean beat but land crew is definitely going to beat us to st. lucia.ken. read more...

La Palapa - Autopilot Fun, 6 Dec, 728nm to St Lucia

this morning before as i attempted to switch autopilots for the net i discovered the raymaine unit was inop.i suspected it had come unbolted again but decide to do the net on low power and wait for aimee to get up to mess with it.this ended up working out fine but while she was making another egg tower i discovered that things had come apart even worse than last time. not only had the bolt come off but the raymarine attachment point had fallen into the case of champagne below the autopilot.with much difficulty i finally collected all the parts and got everything back together (again while the autopilot was running).i added a washer on top of the top bolt (not shown in photo) and replaced the washer on the bottom bolt with a lock washer so hopefully this will finally stay on! all day. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 18 - Clearlake II Post Becalmed

Current position "14:17.6N 56:16.0W”. Well we had a beautiful if non-productive night. By late evening there was no wind, meaning 0.0 knots and 0.0 knots boat speed. The water looked like glass. So much so that Byron and James took a swim remained no wind whatsoever until about 2am when we picked up a few knots of wind and about 2.5 knots boat speed. We looked at the ARC weather bulletin this am which looked reasonably optimistic. Looking at a downloaded forecast with more accuracy shows we’re in a dead zone – this is the one we were tracking S to try to get around a few days ago, but obviously we didn’t quite make it! the ARC forecast shows average conditions for the square we’re in, but it has a range of winds within it, from zippo (us) to reasonable. read more...

Twelve Moons - Angekommen

Am Montag, den 5.12.11 um 18:26 UTC, oder 14:26 Ortszeit haben wir die Ziellinie in St. Lucia Rodney Bay passiert. 3070 Seemeilen haben wir durchs Wasser zurückgelegt in 15 Tagen und 5,5 Stunden. Das ergibt eine Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit von fast 8,5 Knoten. Nicht schlecht für ein 21 Tonnen Fahrtenschiff. Dabei haben wir im 24 Stunden Etmal immer die 200 Semeilen Marke geknackt. Nach dem Zieldurchgang sind wir erst mal kollektiv ins Wasser gesprungen, bei 28 Grad Wasser und Lufttemperatur eine höchst willkommene Abkühlung. Die Wetterverhältnisse der letzten 24 Stunden waren äußerst wechselhaft. In der Nacht Dauerregen bei Null Wind, aber am frühen morgen kam eine Briese mit ca. 12 Knoten auf, die letzten. read more...

Sibilation - Day 17

Where Sibilation sails well, she motors slowly!   Another massively frustrating 24 hours motoring along at 4.5 knots trying to be as efficient as possible to ensure the diesel we have on board lasts throughout this period of no wind. We are now thankful for the huge jerry cans of diesel we bought in Las Palmas, but gutted that we’re having to use it. Before starting the trip if someone had offered us 19 days with a bit of motoring we’d have bitten their arm off, but after the excellent progress in the first 12 days, our expectations and goals shifted significantly. At one point it looked possible to make it in just less than 18 days, with no motoring at all. On a positive note, currently we’re still on track to make it at some point on Friday and achieve a number. read more...

Skyelark of London - Day 17, 7th December

Day 17, 7th December It is perhaps a little disappointing that we come to the end of this trip under motor power rather than sail, but the night watch, with an almost full moon and a glassy smooth sea was enchanting all the same. Keeping an eye on our not entirely trustworthy auto-pilot (George) is a lot easier than helming, so allows more time for dreamy appreciation of the clouds, moon, stars, sea mist and intriguing manoeuvres of other boats. Trying to interpret the lights, position and movement causes continual discussion. With less than 50 miles to our destination, we are keeping our eyes on the western horizon for the first sight of land, which could be either Martinique, or St. Lucia itself. We did have thoughts of a swim in the Atlantic this morning, but with wind(?) from the. read more...

Spindrift of Jersey - Spindrift ARC Log - Day 15

We continued to experiment with rig yesterday afternoon in very light winds and are now running with no mainsail and two headsails poled on opposite sides - a bit like having two wings attached at the bows. One sail uses the pole and the other sail attaches to the boom (that normally is used by the main). These supports are needed to stop the sails collapsing in light winds when the boat rolls. This rig seems more effective than using the main/genoa combination and we are now making 5.5-6 knots in 15 knots of wind. This is quite respectable after the last 24 hours when we we were wallowing and changing sails, etc and we had our worst speeds so far. Due to light winds the sea calmed down and the swell reduced from 2-3 metres to only about. read more...

Spindrift of Jersey - ARC Log - Day 17

This was a night of squalls with torrential rain and winds of 25 knots gusting to over 30 knots which went round to the south. After struggling a bit with both headsails but moving at 8-9 knots with a maximum of 10.5 knots but being blown a bit off course we reduced to one headsail only and still made a very respectable 7 knots for most of the night. In the morning with 25 knots of wind and bigger swells of 2.5-3 metres with additional wind waves that were quite confused. Several times we took a direct hit from the the side and the cockpit was dowsed. We changed rig totally and set up a conventional reefing headsail and mainsail and were able to come on course on a beam reach (wind at right angles to the boat). The change was quite exciting with three crew on the foredeck pitching up and. read more...

Ula - Log Day 16 Stats

p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Day 16Stats We have now finished!!!16 days 2 hours, 47 minutes and 58 seconds.Or close enough.After the lack of wind yesterday morning, it picked up to about 8 to 10 kts.We had a great day sailing, 8 kts boat speed with the code zero and full main. It was heartening to hear other boats on the VHF complaining about the lack of boat speed, with figures of 2 to 3 kts mentioned. It dropped off overnight.We motored to the finish line, stuck the blue code zero up in no wind, and had to motor backwards for a photograph.We did cross the line under sail, albeit motoring up to the line, and coasting over with the engines off.A small gesture that I'm sure no-one else knew but us. Anyway, here are our stats for the trip, boring for anyone not onboard, and not exactly. read more...

Paraty - Tag 17 / nur noch 122 sm.......

Wenn nicht noch etwas unvorhergesehenes dazwischen kommt ist dies heute unser letzter Blog vom Atlantik. Das heisst nun aber nicht, dass wir dann keine Blogs mehr schreiben, denn schliesslich laesst es sich aus einer Haengematte heraus bestimmt auch sehr gut tippseln.Die Tradewinds haben uns seit gestern leider vollends verlassen. Die Flaute kam fuer uns dank eines, wie bislang immer ziemlich exakten Wetterberichtes, nicht wirklich ueberraschend. Wie gut, dass wir noch so manch vollen Dieselkanister an Bord hatten. Und so drueckten wir den Startknopf der Maschine und fahren nun bei spiegelglattem Atlantik der Sonne entgegen. Offensichtlich verfuegt nicht mehr jedes Schiff ueber ausreichend Kraftstoff. In einem Funkspruch gestern Abend wurde der Tausch von Gasvorraeten gegen Diesel. read more...

Ula - Log Day 15 Rain, Rain and more Rain

p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }Day 15Rain,Rain and more Rain. Last night it rained.Then, after it finished raining, it rained some more. Today it threatened to rain, lots.The wind has deserted us, and we have made a collective decision to stick the motor on.I don't feel bad, its not a race... We should be finishing tomorrow morning, rain or no rain. Paul McMorris Worshiper of Zeus. read more...

Great Escape of Southampton - Morning of Wednesday, 7th December, Day ummmmm, reporting for the 6th December

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Six videos watchedFive hundred miles (Proclaimers for Scottish Steve’s benefit)Four bolts on the Generator,Three sails are flying,Two reefs in the main,And a suntan that will last until spring.  We have St Lucia in sight J, when it ain’t covered by rain cloud that is L A bird died.  There’s no easy way of saying it, so it was best to get it out straight away.  A little swallow rested on the bimini and then the deck and then Pete tossed it overboard to rejoin the food cycle.  It’s tough on the high seas. So we are reaching the destination, but not the end of the journey for most of us. But let’s re-join our story from where we left off.  We motored most of yesterday in. read more...

Zingara - 07/12/2011

Zingara auf reisen! Tja, so kann s gehen. . . die racer sind am ziel umd haben uns cruisern den wind abgedreht vor st lucia. und nun sind wir alle am motoren, um baldigst unseren rumpunsh zu bekommen. also werden wir nicht am heutigen mittwoch sondern morgenabend anlanden. der sprit wird reichen! An bord alles bestens, backe gerade n brot, dann wird klar schiff gemacht und die ankunft vorbereitet. Hatten super segeltage, die flaute jetzt ist ok zum arbeiten an bord. Seid alle herzlich gegruesst von einer happy zingara crew. read more...

Mojomo - ETA early afternoon in Rodders

14:19N 60:28W dtf 30nm Another transat draws to a close.As forecast™ by BxWx, the wind was super-light overnight, increasing gently this morning.Actually there was a lot more wind around Mojomo all last night, due to Dee being Mum yesterday and making bacon and eggs with baked beans for lunch, and then chilli con carne with lots more beans for dinner. Phwer!A few of us sat up on deck during the night to avoid the nasty niffs in the cabins. In terms of sailing, this has been perhaps Mojomo’s most spectacular and exhilarating transat ofthe ten completed in the past five years.The ARC stats show that we hadnumerous days with 24-hour averages over 8knots, last Friday at 9.2knots and one day near the start (24th November) with an hardly-credible average of 16.1 knots for the first. read more...

Glass Slipper - 7 Dec 2011

Wednesday, 7 Dec 2011 Yesterday was about the quietest that we have had since we left Las Palmas. Skies were overcast and windy. Never saw any fish or other types of wildlife. Our noon meal was excellent. Tarryn made a Dorado fish chowder. In a soup pot she blended four diced strips of Spanish bacon, fried some chopped onions then added some milk, diced potatoes, canned corn sea salt and pepper. She simmered it for about  30 minutes also baked some bread and - voila – a wonderful noon day meal.   We also watched for me any interesting movie. Invictus – with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. It’s about the 1995 Rugby World Cup that took place in the Republic of South Africa where Tarryn is from. It was about the special relationship between Nelson Mandela and. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 17

Still motoring and now there truly is no wind, barely a ripple, it is  another beautiful day though, the water is now 28.7 degrees (feels like a bath) and the sun is very warm. Phillip took this photo of sunrise this morning.  Motoring for extended periods can be very frustrating. When at sea we all sleep in the aft cabins and my pillow must be no more than a meter above our big diesel engine. The engine bay is sound proofed but when trying to sleep it feels like lying on the bonnet of a tractor! Last night we caught another Mahi Mahi similar size but didn't realise it was on the line, Phillip noticed it this morning and brought it in to discover it half eaten, basically a head and a spine trailing behind it, quite gruesome he said. Currently our ETA is 10:30 tomorrow morning. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 16

OK now the wind has totally gone :(  We were motorsailing for a bit but now we're just motoring along as the wind is less than 7kts and dead on the nose. It's very depressing and not the flying finish to our crossing we were hoping for.  Also a bit disappointed ARC didn't send position report today, but now we're motoring anything could happen to our ranking. They say there is a motoring penalty and we have to record the number of hours per day under power but I don't know if it is a penalty as such or more just an equaliser with those boats who choose not to motor??? We are starting to see more yachts as we all converge on Saint Lucia now, we saw 4 today and spoke with them all on the radio. Good Fortune told us about their encounters some whales that stayed with them for two. read more...

Lancelot - Day 17 - And there it goes!

Morning AllWell what a frustrating 24 hours we have had, since our last time of writing we have only covered a staggering 60 miles! And after sailing over 2700 miles to have these conditions when you are only 100 miles from the finish is mentally very challenging. The wind died as forecast yesterday and since then we have been struggling to get the boat moving at all and most of the miles we have covered have been due to the favourable current. When the wind is as light as it is at the moment any rolling of the boat knocks the wind from the sails and causes the sails to slap around. This is hard to handle for any sailor because not only are you not making any progress, the boat makes lots of noise to let you know about it!! We are always anxiously looking at the weather forecast however. read more...

Aztec Dream - 07/12/11 - Becalmed

Much as we were prepared for some light winds, we were still surprised when the wind disappeared altogether. For 8 hours the log did not move from zero and the expected increase of wind from the NE (8-13 knots) did not materialise at all. We made 55 miles for the 24 hour period and, I suspect, will achieve even less today, as the breeze continues to languish below 5 knots. We have the big spinnaker up and are currently making 2 knots of boatspeed......and not even really in the right direction. However, we have checked our supplies.....and we won't starve! Yesterday, the conditions were better again for fishing and we had some early success, finally catching two decent sized tuna of about 3kg. So we were able to have our much anticipated dinner of tuna sushimi, wasabi and pickled. read more...

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